


Laying the groundwork

by Julieoftarth (Wherethereissmoak)



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 13:35:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12607792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wherethereissmoak/pseuds/Julieoftarth
Summary: Jaime is fascinated by the woman doing the tile work for his bathroom remodel.





	Laying the groundwork

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ikkiM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikkiM/gifts).



> This is for IkkiM's prompt "Jaime Lannister is remodelling his bathroom and finds himself intrigued by the tile installer, Brienne Tarth."
> 
> I'm still new at writing these two, so I hope I did okay in capturing what you wanted! Enjoy!

Legs.

Legs for days were sticking out of his bathroom door.

Legs that proved that he had been wrong in thinking his contractor had not made a typo on the work form and Brienne Tarth was indeed her name and not Brian. It turned out his niece Myrcella had been justified in her lecture to him about how women were just as capable of laying tile as a man.

The legs on the woman in question were capped by jean shorts that were positively sinful at her height, and they barely covered her shapely ass. She was laying on her stomach, her head sideways on his bathroom floor as she studied the tile.

He stood there staring at the legs, transfixed, until he heard a throat clearing behind him. A young man stood there, probably not yet 18, holding a toolbox.

“Excuse me, sir, but, um, Miss Tarth needs her tools.”

At his words, Brienne sat up and looked at him in surprise. “You must be Mr. Lannister. I’m Brienne Tarth, I didn’t realize you were standing there. Do you have any questions about my work?”

Her face was not attractive, but Jaime barely had time to notice before he was sucked in by her astonishing blue eyes.

“Mr. Lannister?”

Jaime recovered quickly. “I uh…was just wondering why you were laying on the floor like that. I almost tripped on your lengthy legs trying to get to my home office.”

Brienne blushed at his words, and Jaime decided he very much wanted to see more of that. “I was checking out your floor. I know you said you wanted to lay the new tile over the old to save time, but I really don’t think it’s a good idea. I think I should pull this up before I lay the new. I need to make sure everything is water-proofed for your bathroom. It will take more time, but it is the better option.”

Suddenly, Jaime didn’t seem to care about how long the project took. He wanted time to get to know the woman laying the tile a little bit more.

She looked surprised when he nodded, but took the tools from the young man before dismissing him.

“You look surprised that I agreed to your proposal, wench,” Jaime said, trying to delay her from getting back to work. Her scowl did nothing to improve her looks, but he had to admit the fire in her eyes did things to him.

“My name is Brienne, and yes, I’m a little surprised,” she said. “All my life, men like you have sneered at a woman in a man’s profession, never trusting my judgement on matters like this. Always wanting to go to the contractors handling the other parts of the remodel for a second opinion. So yes, you surprised me by agreeing with my plan right away.”

Jaime absorbed her words, saying nothing while enjoying the sight her measuring the room.

“Well, you came highly recommended, so I don’t see why I wouldn’t trust your word. Although I would admit that I thought your name was a typo because I’ve never heard of a woman tiler before.”

Brienne huffed at this. “You wouldn’t be the first.”

Jaime grinned. “I’d imagine. And you are rather tall and brutish for a woman, I might have mistaken you for a man if I hadn’t met your long legs first.”

Brienne blushed again. “Well, I think I have everything I need to get started, Mr. Lannister.”

“Jaime, my name is Jaime.”

If possible, her freckled cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red.

“Very well…Jaime. I can order the tiles you picked out now that I have measurements and they should be here by the end of the week. I’ll do demolition in the morning and then start laying down the sealant for the next few days before the tiles arrive.”

He could only nod at her plan, wondering what he could do to delay her departure for the day. She carried her tool box to the hallway and stopped right in front of him.

“Would you like to have a drink?”

“What?”

“I have a nice bar downstairs, with plenty of expensive alcohol my father likes to hand out at holidays. Have a drink with me.”

“Why?”

“Do I need a reason?”

Her shoulders stiffened, and he couldn’t help but wonder what had transpired in the past to put that tension there.

“I’ve found that when men ask to spend more time with me, they usually have reasons that I don’t like.”

Jaime took a step closer to her, and then another. Brienne countered all of his steps with one backward, until she was against the wall. She seemed startled by his actions. He leaned forward so their faces nearly touched.

“And what reasons would you like, Brienne?” She blushed again, but quickly recovered pushing him away.

“I will see you in the morning, Mr. Lannister,” she said as she rushed out of the house. So, she was back to calling him “mister” again. And he had made her skittish. Probably just as well. She was intriguing to him, but he was no sort of man an innocent girl like her should be with. And if her blushes at his flirting were any indication, she was innocent.

He cursed when his phone rang and saw that it was his step-sister calling for the 10th time in the past hour. Jaime could not get away with continuing to ignore her calls if he didn’t want her showing up at his house. And he wanted to avoid contact with her as much as possible.

He decided to pour himself a drink anyway. He was going to need it to deal with his family.

***

Brienne was back at the Lannister house bright and early the next morning. She liked to get an early start on her day, and she figured she could annoy the house’s owner if she got most of her work done before he woke up.

Something about Mr. Lannister…Jaime…unsettled her. He made her feel things that she had not allowed herself for a long time. Not since Renly, the man she had loved who had not loved her back. Not since Hunt and his friends, who tried to seduce her on a bet.

She had closed her heart and body off to the idea of love and even lust, because she figured she would never be the recipient of either. The higher she built those walls, the stronger she became. At least that’s what she told herself.

But it took one man, albeit an incredibly handsome one, to break through the first layer of those walls and make her stomach fill with butterflies like a girl with a high school crush. Jaime Lannister made her positively melt. And that wouldn’t do, no that wouldn’t do at all.

Brienne tried to push those feelings out of her through the demolition of the bathroom floor. She must have been slamming things too hard, because the man in question appeared a few minutes later. An adorable disgruntled look showed on his face, topped with the sexiest bedhead she had ever seen. Brienne forced herself to push away thoughts of waking up and seeing him like that in bed.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Lannister, did I wake you?”

“Yes, you did, wench. Do you know what time it is?”

“I thought I told you to call me Brienne.”

His sleepy look changed into a smirk. “And I thought I told you to call me Jaime.”

She just shook her head at him and turned to return to her work. “I’m sorry I woke you, I really should get back to…”

“Do you want a cup of coffee? You wouldn’t have a drink with me last night, but maybe I can interest you in some caffeine?”

“I don’t think…”

“Please, Brienne, spare my poor head a few minutes before you start pounding on the floor again.”

She sighed and nodded. It seemed avoiding him would be impossible this morning. She decided to humor him, hoping he would get bored with her soon.

They turned into a room with the curtains open, and the bright sunlight made Jaime cringe. She chuckled. “Decided to have that drink on your own, did you? Or maybe five or six?”

He smiled at her, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Drinking is a necessary side effect of having to deal with my family,” Jaime said. Brienne felt for him. She had of course seen the news stories through the years of his relationship with his step-sister, and how her children may actually be his. About how their abusive father had asked him to step away from public life after a car accident took his hand, because apparently, he was now an embarrassment to his family.

The media had commented on the fact that Tywin Lannister’s choices were cruel, but in the same breath talked about how Jaime used to be handsome and how it was a shame that he fell from grace. As if losing a hand was his own fault.

Brienne gave him a pitying look as he handed her a cup of coffee. “Sorry about your family.”

He gave her a sad smile. “It’s unfortunate that the people who bother us the most in life are the ones that we are stuck with forever. I haven’t really spoken to my sister in almost a year, but she is trying to worm her way back into my life now. She’s probably bored,” Jaime said, setting his cup down a little too roughly on the end table. “Enough of my sad state, wench, tell me of your family, they are probably much better than mine.”

They sat on the couch for a while, and Brienne told stories about growing up in Tarth with her father. She was glad to see some of the sadness leave his eyes with her stories of her days climbing trees to the chagrin of her nanny that wanted to turn her into a proper lady.

When she was finished with her cup, she stood. “I really should get back to work. That’s what you are paying me for.”

Jaime smiled at her. “Thank you, Brienne, for making my morning better.”

His phone rang again, and he tossed it on the couch with a groan. Brienne considered him for a minute. “Come on, I’ve got an idea.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs and toward the bathroom project.

“If you are trying to get me to my bedroom, wench, you could have just said so,” Jaime teased, and Brienne dropped his hand as if it was burning.

“That’s not what…I uh…ugh, will you just shut up for one minute?”

Jaime just grinned at her and her stomach did it’s flippy thing again. Spending time with him was not a good idea. With him teasing her like that, her heart could get more involved than she wanted it to.

Brushing away her thoughts, she grabbed the heaviest tool she could find and shoved it toward Jaime’s good hand. “Here.”

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Demolish. It will help you get some of your frustration out over your family.”

He looked at the tool in his hand. “Isn’t this your job?”

“Look, I’m just trying to help you feel better, if you don’t want to, you can go drink again, although it is quite early for that.”

Jaime’s eyes widened in surprise. “But, I lost my hand.”

“Your other one works just fine, doesn’t it?” She scoffed at him. Brienne imagined that no one pushed him much after his injury. From what she had read in the papers, his family had just written him off.

His mouth hung open at her words, before he smiled. “Yes, I suppose it does.”

Jaime took his first swing at the tile and grinned up at her when it smashed. Her heart stopped. He was handsome when serious, but absolutely breathtaking when his smile reached his green eyes. She did not know how she would endure. But she wasn’t about to walk away from him now. Not until this job was over, at least that’s what she told herself.

Brienne helped Jaime as he continued to demolition the floor, cleaning up every tile he destroyed. They worked like that for hours, talking as they went. The steady work seemed to open up something in Jaime and she became his sort of confessor. He laid out all the things he had done in the past. The good and the bad, and some of the things he had misjudged for in the media.

Brienne realized she was becoming dangerously close to more than liking the man, and she had to admit that it scared her.

***

They fell into a rhythm for the next couple of days. They would sit and talk over coffee every morning before heading up to work in the bathroom. Every day, Brienne found a task that he could do to work out his frustration. Helping her seal the floors to prevent future water damage was surprisingly therapeutic.

And the conversations they held were illuminating. He shared things with her that he had never told anyone, and she opened up to him too. He now understood why she had been so skittish of his advances, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how to let her know that she was legitimately interested in something more than friendship with her.

He asked her out to dinner at the end of every single day, and each time she turned him down. He could see the interest in her eyes flash before she quickly retreated back behind the walls she had built.

Jaime had a moment of panic when she told him his tiles had arrived and they would start laying them tomorrow. He knew that once that part of the project began, it would soon be over and he would lose Brienne’s daily presence in his life.

When she arrived the next day with the tiles, out of desperation he declared that he didn’t like them now that he had seen them in person. And that meant the two of them had to go shopping for new tile. Together.

He was suddenly cared more about bathroom tile than he ever had in his life – dragging their search from store to store out over several days. And of course, they had to stop for lunch while they were out. Brienne seemed to relax more each day, and yesterday she had not found an excuse to pull away quickly when their hands touched.

Still, she had said no when he asked her to stay for dinner.

But today was different, today she was on to him.

“Jaime, you cannot possibly be so concerned about bathroom tile. They are even starting to blend together for me, and I do this for a living.”

“Getting bored with me already, wench?”

She rolled her eyes at this, and he grinned when she didn’t bother to correct her name this time. He was growing on her, he could tell.

“No, I…uh…have enjoyed spending time with you.”

Jaime stopped himself from laughing with excitement. Finally, some progress.

“Oh, you have? Then why do you turn down my dinner invitation every night?”

Brienne was silent for a moment, and Jaime wished he could get inside her head to read her thoughts.

“I’ve enjoyed spending time with you, but I know it’s going to end soon…and I can’t bear it.” She blushed and hung her head as she spoked.

Jaime stepped closer.

“Bear what, Brienne?”

“Saying goodbye. Going back to days where I don’t get to look forward to talking to you every day.”

“You like talking to me?”

She turned on him, angry for some reason. He breath caught at the passion in her eyes. “I was perfectly fine with my life, Jaime Lannister, and you had to come around and make me realize that I wanted more.”

Jaime reached out and grabbed her hand. “You can have more Brienne, come to dinner with me, please.”

She stared at their joined hands. “Don’t mock me.”

“I’m not mocking you. I’m completely mad for you. Why do you think I’ve been stretching out this tile search for so long?”

Her sapphire eyes met his.

“So, if I say yes to dinner, we can stop this endless tile search?”

Jaime nodded. “I would probably go back to my original choice.”

“Jaime!” She sputtered. “This whole search has been for nothing?”

He stepped closer again, their faces nearly touching.

“Not for nothing. I enjoy spending time with you too.”

And with that, she leaned forward and kissed him. It was light and tentative at first, but when he reciprocated, it was full of passion.

She pulled away and smiled at him, and he knew that his life would never be the same. “Now that we’ve settled this, can I get back to work now and finish your floor?”

He was reluctant agreed. “Don’t you mean, _we_ need to finish your floor?”

She laughed. “Are you going to follow me to my other jobs and help too?”

“I’m considering it. I’ve found I quite enjoyed the work.”

“I might let you come along, so long as you are not in charge of helping the client pick out their tiles.”

Jaime laughed and agreed. He started laying out the tiles for her, inwardly making plans for their date tonight…and for all the nights after.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!  
> My Tumblr is julieoftarth if you want to give me a follow!


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